Friday, December 09, 2016

Baseball fans of the Isthmus of Panama are booming that section as an excellent location for one or more big training camps. It is claimed that the sanitary conditions of the canal zone, under the care and direction of the army and canal officials, are excellent, and that with the dry season extending from December to April the major league baseball players could not find a more satisfactory location for rounding into shape for their pennant battles.

“We laid some groundwork as they say,” the Mets GM said after the Rule-5 draft, which traditionally concludes the week of meetings. “We’ll have conversations continuing when we get back to New York. I think what we are pleased with, is the fact we had some dialogue and it continues. We’ll pursue things the next couple of weeks before Christmas and possibly thereafter.”

Such a move would be viewed as another unorthodox appointment by Trump, who named former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration Wednesday.

Yet Valentine’s history, and connections to Trump and Japan, make the possibility of such a decision very real.

The former Red Sox manager has known both Trump and his brother, Bob, since the early 1980’s. He is also very close to Anthony Scaramucci, ...

“We had plenty of opportunities to make changes,” Hazen said. “But ultimately we didn’t feel like any of those were the right thing to do for us. Some of those situations may be in the future, but right now nothing really made sense on the larger trade front. I’m not anticipating any of that changing, but you never know. Again, we feel good about where we’re at.”

In the bottleneck on the way into the room Thursday morning, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spotted Yankees counterpart Brian Cashman. It had been less than 12 hours since word circulated the Yankees had agreed with Aroldis Chapman on a five-year, $86 million deal — a record for a reliever — and two days since Cashman had referred to the Red Sox as baseball’s Golden State Warriors with Chris Sale joining an already ...

Thursday, December 08, 2016

Though the Cardinals did not make any transactions during their four-day stay at the Winter Meetings, it did not take long after their return to St. Louis for them to complete their pursuit of a new center fielder.

After a picture of Dexter Fowler boarding a flight from Las Vegas to St. Louis surfaced on social media, MLB.com confirmed through sources that Fowler was en route to St. Louis to undergo a physical on Friday. An agreement between the Cardinals and Fowler is already in place, though ...

That purpose is not necessarily be the first to report breaking news, but to get it right. For Stark, that involves staying calm, sane and “just making sure that I’m only going to report information that I am confident about.”

Not every reporter seems to stick to that mantra, especially with the competition in the building and the pressure social media brings to constantly be posting any morsel or piece of relevant information.

In a joint English-Spanish interview with ESPN.com and ESPN Deportes, Sandoval said he got “complacent” after signing a five-year, $95 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in November 2014 and pledged to “start my baseball career all over again” now that he is fully recovered from left shoulder surgery.

“My career had fallen into an abyss because I was so complacent with things that I had already accomplished,” Sandoval said by phone ...

So what became clear to nearly everyone at the winter meetings was that the Nationals were going to move Giolito. His value, of course, would have been higher six months ago. But then, his performance hadn’t fallen off by that point. We’ll watch what he becomes in Chicago. But the Nationals aren’t particularly concerned that he’ll be an ace. The bigger problem would have been holding onto him, seeing his ...

A sure sign that it’s the offseason from the Pittsburgh Press, December 8, 1916:

Jim Thorpe, the Indian ball player who was sent to the Milwaukee club last spring by Manager McGraw, is to get another chance with the Giants. It was announced [in New York] today that McGraw plans to play him regularly in one of the outfield positions, if he displays improvement.

This is, IIRC, the fourth consecutive offseason in which it was reported that Thorpe had a chance to be an everyday player for the ...

It’s easier to be “irrational” when you are a top revenue team. As the Dodgers have shown, it can be rational to press your higher revenue advantage. In smaller markets, breaking out the checkbook can really restrict a franchise’s future.

That’s why Atkins intriguingly said the Blue Jays don’t feel like they need to move off their positions in unspecified negotiations. But there may come a point when, to use Friedman’s phrasing, some irrationality may be needed to ensure the player they ...

Yimmi Brasoban, rhp, Padres: Brasoban ranked 19th in the Padres system a year ago. The Padres’ system is significantly deeper this year, but it is still a surprise that San Diego left the hard-throwing righthander unprotected as he has two major league pitches (a 95-98 mph fastball and an excellent slider) and he has Double-A experience. Brasoban’s control wavers at times, but with an ability to eat up righthanded hitters (who hit ...

In his own acceptance speech, Gillick, the architect of the Blue Jays’ two World Series winners, the Phillies’ 2008 champions and Seattle’s 116-win team in 2001, again turned the spotlight toward others who helped him achieve his level of success and longevity.

“Today’s a very special day for me, because it gives me the ability to thank the men and women who work under the radar in player development and scouting,” Gillick said. “Their knowledge, ...

It’s a bizarre baseball reality that the low-revenue Marlins could outbid the high-revenue Dodgers for a player whom the Dodgers signed out of Curacao in 2004, converted from a catcher to a pitcher and developed into an elite closer.

But don’t be surprised if it happens.

The Dodgers’ value-driven front office is not the type to pump $80 million into a pitcher who works 70 innings a season — particularly when the lack of ...

As it stands, the Diamondbacks have impressive starting pitching depth, including several starters with upside – or, at least, the ability to pitch far better than they did this year. Led by Zack Greinke, the rotation also includes Ray, Corbin, Miller and Walker, with Archie Bradley, Braden Shipley, Zack Godley and prospects Matt Koch and Anthony Banda behind them.

“Even having six starters I think is an advantage going into a season,” Hazen ...

“We hear good reports about his focus,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said Wednesday. “You heard what he had to say at the end of the year about coming back and things that he wants to do, both in terms of being physically prepared as well as trying to undo some of the things that he found were a little bit humbling this year.”

First, Eric Thames was signed to a three-year deal after playing for three years in Korea. Then, third baseman Travis Shaw was acquired from Boston in a trade Tuesday that sent closer Tyler Thornburg to the Red Sox.

The Shaw deal meant Jonathan Villar would move from third base to second, leaving shortstop Orlando Arcia as the only starter to return at the same position. And he has all of two months on the job.

Assuming second baseman Scooter Gennett is not traded, he becomes a bench player. ...

The Sox were also asking too much for Quintana, at least from the Braves’ perspective. While they were in the market for a true No. 1 starter, Quintana wasn’t the dominant, indisputable “ace” that Sale was, and the Braves don’t feel compelled to give up multiple top prospects — including elite pitching prospects – to get Quintana.

“It comes down to needs and wants,” Braves general manager John Coppolella said. “We don’t have needs in starting pitching. Do we want a No. 1 ...

Chris Sale produced 21.7 WAR in the last four seasons. Jose Quintana produced 18.1 WAR over the same timeframe. Last year, Quintana slightly beat him (5.2-4.9). Considering that Quintana has an extra year of control and, although Sale might have a better rep, the actual production earned over their remaining contracts might not be very different.

Quintana is set to make a modest $7 million in 2017 and $8.85 million in 2018 and has team options of $10.5 million and $11.5 million for 2019 and ...

Now it’s about getting back on the mound, and as Sandy Alderson said earlier this week, the bullpen may be the best fit for Wheeler right now.

The right-hander is in no position to argue. With the Mets’ bullpen a mess because of the Jeurys Familia situation, this bullpen start-up may prove to be more important than even Wheeler realizes. So, for now, it’s Wheels up in the pen.

“Whatever the team thinks is best where I can stay healthy,’’ Wheeler said as he ...

Moncada will assuredly again rank in the top five of next February’s Top 100 Prospects and he will be in the discussion for No. 1 overall. Since 2000, there have been eight other players who were traded away during the season/offseason in which they were ranked among the Top 10 Prospects by Baseball America.

Aroldis Chapman and his triple-digit fastball are heading back to the Bronx, as the left-handed closer has agreed to a five-year, $86 million contract with the Yankees on Wednesday night, a source told MLB.com.

The agreement sets a Major League record for the largest contract ever handed to a relief pitcher. The Yankees have not officially announced the signing, as Chapman must still pass a physical to finalize the deal.

“I don’t know the inner workings,” Zach Kalkanis said, “but I feel Lew Wolff was very much against putting in the money to keep talent around. I’m hoping (Kaval) sees that this is a mistake. We’ve had our hearts broken before.”